192. RAINER MARIA RILKE: Live the questions

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) was an Austrian writer and is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Although he is rightly recognised for his poetry, he is also famous for his correspondence with a young writer collected in Letters to a Young Poet.

Rilke was the son of an army officer who was sent to military school to follow in his father’s footsteps. Thankfully, he managed to leave and pursue his calling of becoming a writer. Knowing this, 19 year-old aspiring poet Franz Kappus, who was then a cadet in military school, wrote to Rilke asking for advice as to which path he should choose. In his 10 letters to Kappas, Rilke offered profound advice on life, love and art, amazing considering that Rilke wasn’t even 30 at the time. Kappus published the letters in 1929, after Rilke had died.

In his first letter, after Kappus had asked him to critique his poetry, Rilke wrote:“You are looking outside, and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write?”

The quote used in the comic is probably the most famous passage from Rilke’s letters and is taken from Letter #4. (You can read all of the letters at that link)

There’s some controversy in Australia at the moment over a government initiative called Safe Schools. It’s a program designed to help LGBT students cope with bullying and deal with questions they might have about their sexuality. It’s brought out all sorts of homophobia and bigotry from those against the program. That got me thinking about doing a comic about a transgender student. I was also inspired by Lana Wachowski’s fantastic Human Rights Visibility Award acceptance speech in 2012.

What are you talking about? There was noting FORCED about that in any respect. I know it bothers the activist crowd but some of us actually do transition to be men and women, not “transgendered people” some of us transition to be “cis” deal with it and stop trying to force everyone into your identity group, you are just another form of bully.

What? You can’t transition to be cis, that’s not what it means. Frankly, Dana, that was a pointless and meaningless insult. See the article for the problematic aspects of that movie. I have in no way insinuated trans women aren’t women or that trans men aren’t men. They are, wholly. And it’s a process that movie makes an absolute mess of.

I’ve been post op for nearly 20 years and I didn’t do it to be “Transgendered” I consider it an insult. I wasn’t talking about the movie, I was talking about this comic which touched me deeply. I was replying to your attack on this comic. Trans inclusion become pretty much INVOLUNTARY in the last ten years. Try to say you don’t trans identify ANYWHERE is queer space and see how quickly you are villianized and attacked. You want to be “transgendered, you do that. Not waht it says on my birth certificate. I will not let myself be forced into a third party “lifestyle” gender.

And seriously “That was such a cis point of view that it was just barely not a ‘forced feminization’ fetish story” wasn’t hostile? Or are you reserving that right for yourself alone?

If I don’t want to accept a collective identity of a group of people I don’t identify with I’m “strange and desperate” Its really simple, As long as “transgender” is now a third or alternate position I choose not to accept it or be labelled with it. Why are you so focused in picking fights? Its not healthy?

I’m uncomfortable with the way you frequently associate overweight people with negative qualities. Some people feel inspired by losing weight, sure, but gaining it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad person, or have ‘lost’ or ‘failed’ somehow.

I haven’t noticed this before, but it felt more present in this comic. (I love these comics btw). But yeah, showing all the bullies as fat at the 10-year reunion felt a little — ha, they got what was coming to them — bullying in another way. There was no reason the group shot couldn’t have included fat/thin, pretty/ugly, etc.

Agreed. I love the overall message this strip conveys, but the fact that ALL of Carla’s old bullies are depicted as overweight stereotypes (sloppy, unkempt, etc.) detracts from the positivity of the piece.

Exactly, the strip was great except you made weight be a punishment for evil, similar to how gay/queer/trans/bi have historically been synonymous with evil. The positive message and my identifying with the main character’s journey was destroyed in the last panel when it became about fat-shaming.

This. It wasn’t that *some* of those people got fat, it’s that *all* of them got the *same* amount of larger. If there were variety in the ways they’d changed since high school – different negative stereotypes even – then I think the point would have held. It was the homogeneity of that future that bothered me.

Case in point: At my 10th HS reunion, when the “late bloomer” made a point of astounding us with her amazing transformation (not MTF, just shining), the worst of the bullies stood there just as amazed, in all their varying bodies. It’s about the behavior, not just the physical appearance of the bullies.

I felt the exact same way! I loved Carl/a’s story, but the comic was ruined for me by the overweight, ugly mean stereotype. It is a really harmful image in a comic that is supposed to be positive. Appearance and kindness are not correlated, Gavin. 🙁

Yes, please stop showing fat people as the monsters in your comic strips. You are no better than Carla’s bullies when you do so. How hypocritical to address the discrimination and depression associated with transgender individuals and then turn around and show fatness as the automatic metaphor for bad people in the same image. As creative as you are, I think you are talented enough to stop using fatness as a visual shortcut to depict the worst kind of negativity. You even literally associated fatness with shame in your other recent strip The Guest House, and again then ignorance and hate with fatness in On The Mindless Menace of Violence. More examples include comic 168, 167, 157, 150. This is something you do frequently and it’s not okay. As frequently as you address bullying I would think you would be more mindful of the high rate of suicidal ideation and depression found in the overweight/obese. Why contribute to that kind of stigmatizing, discrimination, and stereotyping when you otherwise show such positive messages against bullying and hate?

In the artist’s defence, though, all he drew was people who had more fats on their bodies. We are the ones who label fat people as unsuccessful and ‘losers’. If we do not have that notion in our own mind, we would not have thought that way, and would’ve only simply recognized fat people as just fat people.

So the real question is, who associated overweight people as ‘losers’? The artist, or us, the viewers?

I normally hesitate or refrain from commenting on topics like this, but some of you are taking political correctness too far here.

You people are choosing to be offended. FAN even makes the effort of examining past works of this artist and documents the comic numbers where the use of an overweight stereotype is used negatively. Sorry “FAN”, but you’re actively seeking out reasons to be offended. There is more beauty and joy in life than to have to do this. Go out and get some of it.

Being overweight is -in a vast majority of instances- completely within your control. Being trans is not. The fact that you guys are somehow equating the fact that some people make poor nutritional choices or live sedentary lifestyles with someone that was born with the physical gender that does not match what they identify with mentally and emotionally is laughably obtuse.

Really people. Stop being offended. Have a salad for lunch today, or go for a walk. Gavin is doing more for this world through his art than most of you ever have or ever will by whinging about his use of overweight stereotypes.

It shouldn’t matter if someone can or cannot choose to be fat, or trans, or a minority, or gay, or mentally ill, or anything that isn’t a straight white male apparently. The fact that fat people can lose weight doesn’t mean you get to use them as a joke or boogeyman AND then say “well I’m not an asshole, after all they can just lose weight”. You’re responsible for your own furthering of negative stereotypes regardless of who you choose to target or why you target them. You are bullying people and then blaming the victims of your bullying because in your mind its their fault they are not more like you. What part of that doesn’t make you a jerk?

This is a form of fat-shaming. I appreciate how supportive the zen pencils art is of other forms of human variation in terms of sexuality and gender but there does seem to be, in several of these, a tendency to vilify people of size. Fat people are not always bad anymore than thin people are always good. Please, Gavin, give thought to your stereotyped portrayal of a large group of people

Being overweight is bad. It is bad from a purely health point of view. Obesity is a medical condition. It is not beautiful. The natural unconditioned reaction to obesity is that of repulse. It has always been throughout history. It is something to be avoided or treated. No matter how much you try to tell yourself otherwise.

The saddest part of this comic is that the quote about Rilke is only left to empower Carla. I would hope that those questions would lead to answers for many people at St. John’s.
While I don’t think it was your intention, the comic reads as if a (Catholic) Christian School is unable to show inclusion or acceptance for anyone. You portray it being the class of 2016 and I would argue many young people may be more receptive to their peers than you would have found in the class of ’96 or ’06.

You also have everyone at the reunion in a dress that showcases a “redneck/under-educated” over overweight individual. I understand in comics stereotypes are used to quickly progress a panel, but sadly, I don’t find strength in Carla’s narrative because she seems to be “sticking” it to the nimrods instead of owning her truth in a world of peers.

Nit pickers, this not only applies to this interpretation in the realm of what’s going on in Australia but to everyone questioning, it’s advice I’m passing along to my daughter and son, both now in their teens, thank you zenith pencils for an answer to a question

I especially like that you’ve done a great job in channeling how the “cool and beautiful people” turned into the typical fat, ugly, Australian suburban blobs – especially the tuckshop-lady arms on “Sally” and the sweaty armpits on “Dave”. To those other commentators that see only ‘fat shaming’, they just need to go to a standard suburban shopping centre and really, really look. Most of those people that they see there were once the bullies and the ‘beautiful people’ in high school.

Let’s not forget too, that Gavin has deliberately exaggerated a few things to make his point. Who hasn’t dreamed of getting revenge on people that have tormented them in school by looking and doing better than those people in life – and showing it off. 🙂

This brought tears to my eyes and a sense of Yes! by the last panel. I do understand the criticisms made because other readers’ very careful attention to detail, though may I point out that only 8 of the classmates are portrayed. This is a brief illustration of Carla’s experience as it fits the Rilke quote. Until very, very recently, this would have been the story of what was going on from the point of view of almost anyone unique at almost any school, parochial, private or public, except for very unusual exceptions. Childhood into early adulthood is so lonely and even if one has allies there are times when one has to face the bullies, the snobs, the ignorant wannabes alone. It’s such a powerful image of following yourself when your peers have continued to follow the lead of others. Well done, Gavin!

Dude, I love your comics and shared some on my FB timeline.
But, this time, you used a wrong tone when depicting the people in the reunion. Why ALL of them needed to be represented as (like the other guy said) “typical fat, ugly, Australian suburban blobs”?

Gav-
As soon as I saw the title of this one, I had an idea of where it might go. I. Love. It. One idea/request, though….could you do another version with a female-to-male transperson? (Still love it either way, though!)

i kind of concur with many of the comments above, thhe strip seems to go out of its way to demonize and dehhumanize or “other” the depicted “enemies”.

It weakens the theme and relies on imaginary boogeymen or strawmen.

The fact of the matter is sometimes kids are cruel, especially about anyting different. it is a natural primitive response that we grow out of as we mature and our experiences broaden and our ability with compassion and empathy grows.

Most of those mean kids grow up to be perfectly decent people who would probably want to apologise to anyone they bullied during their teens.

It might have been really beautiful to have the people at the reunion welcome and embrace the new Carla who is now happy and confident and beaming with much more attracting qualities than the shy, awkward embarassed kid who seemed so “weird”. It might have demonstrated that people often really appreciate people who know and embrace themselves, who are confident and who seem vibrant. If by becoming Carla the protagonist has become free and found a home within themselves, all that well-being becomes infectious.

It wasn’t necessary or enlightened to have everyone else become degenerate and still be bug-eyed. this is the near-sighted misanthropic wish fulfillment of the hurting scorned youth–who you hope will also grow out of these childish spiteful wishes by point of the 10yr anniversary.

Those boogeymen are NOT imaginary and by and large they do Not welcome you with “open arms” they “welcome” you with nosy questions, mortal judgements, and often serious anger and prejudices. The only self esteem you get from this you have to take for yourself.

I’m sorry, this is the very FIRST time I am disappointed by one of the Zen comics. I didn’t know this quote before reading the comic, but it really speaks to me, it says very well something that I do believe, so forgive me if I dare say that this storyline doesn’t illustrate it properly.
Carl is not loving the question like a locked room, the answer is clear from the beginning and Carl lives according to the answer no matter what the others say from the very first years, as we can see from the toys, untill at a certain point Carl finds the way to live the answer, that was always known to Carl and the reader, even more openly. Good for Carla, but this is not about accepting what is unsolved in one’s heart. There is no mistery in this comic, so it cannot be a comic aobut loving a misterious locked room. There are no unanswered questions. I don’t know which storyline can match to this beautiful quote, but the story about Carla, however beautiful, is not a match.

I guess now you see how people get offended by everything always.
I usually read the comments for something I’ve missed but now 80% of the comments are to complaint about the fat evil guys.
Here’s the deal people since I’m betting 99.9% of the people complaining are overweight.
Don’t think everything is about you, Noone cares in the world that much to be pending random people everywhere.
I’m overweight myself and couldn’t care less about this. And let me tell you a big fat truth (lol). Everyone will always associate fit and beautiful to success and fat and ugly to failure, specially in a meeting with people you used to know when you were young, as in high school. Those meetings are only made to compare yourself with each other, so this is completely on mark.
And if you care so much about a comic, a drawing for God’s sake, depicts you, then you have a problem with being waaaay too sensitive and you add to this world being so political correct which is the dumbest thing ever.
Don’t get offended by someone (Gavin) who 1. Doesn’t know you 2. Wishes you no harm 3. Drew a comic.
If you feel offended do something about it, either slim down or live with pride, but don’t be whining at every opportunity at everyone about everything. I bet that if the evil ones were portrayed with black clothes, makeup and stuff, we the emos would’ve been offended, or if there were only girls bullying him, the feminists, or if only males, or if only a racial group or WHY PEOPLE GET OFFENDED SO EASILY DAMMIT.
Quit being a girl (lol more stereotypes) and man up (I’m on a roll) or if you want me to be polite, accept your life, your body, and the world, Noone knows you so don’t take everything personal

End of rant.
Good job Gavin, it’s a shame you get so much heat on a comic, don’t despair and at the end of the day, if they don’t like your art, don’t worry, they won’t be missed.

Had some typos and might have some misspellings or grammar errors because English is not my first language, also since I’m on my phone there might be some weird things and can’t edit the comment.
And I’m not emo, for some reason the autocorrect put “we the emos” when I wanted to say “then the emos”
Anyway people don’t take things so seriously, we are at the comic 192, haven’t you learned anything? Be happier and less political correct, don’t waste time on that.
Cheers

I agree with you FCO, I dont think Gav even notice this “fat boycot” while drawning this or any other comic. BTW, being fat is in most cases a decision, a sum of choices that lead to sedentarism and comformity, no one ask you to be super fit, but anyone who does nothing to improve his/her HEALTH has little to say here. Nowadays is hard to say something and not being attacked for it (remember París attacks on Charlies comics) but I appreciate what you do Gav, I am reading all comics first to last once a day before going to work and it pushes me to work harder and live better (and happier).
Dont stop what you do, and remember: dont get offended by comments either.

I don’t agree with you. Though probably not for the reasons you may think.

You are right in saying people who complain about being offended can be quite grating. But this comic actually has quite a few flaws, and the complaints rather feel as though these people wanted to explain why they disliked it, but not knowing what exactly annoyed them about it, latched onto the most visible top of the iceberg.

Please let me be clear. I have a lot of respect for this artist, like most of the comics on this site, and downright adore some of them. However, that doesn’t stop me from noticing when they miss the mark.

First of all, this comic’s quote does not mesh with the story shown. Carl is not living the question at all, he’s living his answer in a world that rejects it.

But that’s not really wrong per say, and it is indeed a matter of opinion. The real problem is that this comic suffers from a serious case of “good hero, bad world”: ALL the characters in this comic are jerks, apart from carl(a).
Not only are they jerks, but they are stereotypical jerks. Notice the obvious jocks, the duckface girl, the selfie…

And, finally, no other character than Carl(a) is allowed to grow. They are all shown to have peaked in high school, and become ugly, fat people at the reunion. the fact that being fat is shown to be a punishment is indeed a bit of fat-shaming, and only adds insult to injury here.

In conclusion, this comic is absolutely not subtle, and actually comes off as saying Carl(a) is inherently better than all the others. While I credit Gavin enough to know the message was good, the execution makes it come off not as a lesson of tolerance, or even of coming into your own self, but as a comeupance for all the “normies”.

This could be understandable. I mean, this is a short comic, and gavin is telling a complex story. But there are so many better and more subtle comics on this site that this one stands out as bad next to them.

Yes you insist on saying Carl and you insist on saying him.This shows your real point more than anything. Good use of misdirection of the point, On one respect Carla IS better than the others, she grew, she understood herself, she didn’t make others miserable with her biases, and she managed to become herself despite a heavy wall of stereotyping, prejudice, and outright bias.

There might be another interpretation here: the panel where we are introduced to the classmates as adults says “Perhaps then, someday far in the future . . .” could be wishful thinking on Carla’s part, kind of like fantasizing that she makes a big entrance at their school reunion, looking great as a woman, while all her classmates have let themselves go. I guess it could be what she hopes will happen. Or perhaps this theory is full of hot air. I don’t know.

I have been an admire of Rilke since my youth, and of your work for a relatively short time. _Letters To A Young Poet_ is still among my top 10 books.

You have taken one of my favorite bits and placed it in a context I never considered and it is just perfectly apt. It’s as if I’m looking at an old painting and seeing something new in it for the first time.

Gav you are great, even if “fat” reference is not the best idea, I think you manage to conduit the idea.
Some of your other comics portray different styles, so I’m sure this doesn’t qualify as a trend for you. Please keep the comics coming.

+1 to the commenters who noticed that all bullies got fat, which, let’s face it, is a very obvious depiction of some sort of divine justice. I am an extremely batshit crazy fan, Gave, and am overweight myself. I don’t know if the people calling ‘overreaction’ to this point are right, but I do wish to register that the world is harsh enough to people like me (whatever be the reason for our condition) without beautiful and amazing people like you depicting them so unkindly in their otherwise wonderful art, unintentional as I am sure the depiction must have been.

PS: Your comic with Stephen Fry’s quote about self-pity got me through a rough patch. Thank you so much for that.

“Read as little as possible of literary criticism. Such things are either partisan opinions, which have become petrified and meaningless, hardened and empty of life, or else they are clever word-games, in which one view wins, and tomorrow the opposite view. Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and no means of approach is so useless as criticism. Only love can touch and hold them and be fair to them.” Rainer Maria Rilke And the rest of that paragraph in letter #3.

1) Some trans people go through surgical gender affirmation, and some do not. Not doing a surgery doesn’t make a person invalid as their preferred gender. It IS often an important part of the process, but it doesn’t apply to everyone.

2) It’s okay to feel offended by things, especially when you also proffer an explanation for that offense. It is the burden of the person who has given offense to apologize, reconsider, or at least discuss and understand. The phrase “Quit being offended” has never helped anybody.

You fail to consider that many people consider the idea that some men would rather be women and that some women would rather be men to be offensive– literally everything anyone can do can be seen as offensive. A woman showing her face in public or voting is offensive to a fundamentalist Muslim. Should they apologize? Should they feel shame?

No, I did not fail to consider that. This is a false analogy. If people are offended by those of us who voice our need for human rights despite their traditions, they are still allowed to be offended. It’s simply a question of prioritizing individual freedoms, and not imposing one’s traditions on others at the expense of their well-being.

So, you see, telling even these individuals that they have a right to be offended, can only help them. That way, they have a chance of understanding the difference between living one’s own truth, and imposing that truth on others in a way that harms them. That would allow more people to understand that, even though they have a right to their opinion, sometimes the imposition of their beliefs upon others is harmful. There is a difference between doing something “offensive” and doing something morally wrong. Offense is subjective, and EVERYONE has a right to it. Technically morals are subjective as well, but we as a society respect individual liberties. There is a reasonable consensus that this is considered moral.

Everyone has a right to choose their freedom. Everyone has a right to be offended by others’ beliefs, including what they consider their freedom. But we shouldn’t expect everyone to change just because we complained. Perhaps if we inspire the empathy we deserve, it will happen. But perhaps not. Humans are diverse creatures, and declaring offense is not tantamount to demanding the offense be eradicated from the earth.

It’s normal and human to be offended sometimes. Don’t tell me what I’ve “failed to consider.”

Right now, I’m at work reading this & quietly crying. You’ve no idea the impact this has had on me. I was born female & at a very young age, told my parents I was a boy. They reported this to a doctor who encouraged my parents to make me be a “normal girl.” In many ways, my life was similar to what’s in this comic, just the other way around. It was very lonely to know what I am but no one would listen.

The courage to ask the question is a hard thing to come by, but it’s so critical for those of us who need a little help to live as our authentic selves. Now, 25 years after I first said I’m a boy, I’m living as a trans man. But so many aren’t alive at all anymore, so many fall on the path to themselves, and the lack of support in a harsh world is a huge contributing factor to that.

So. Thank you for capturing so much of how I’ve felt, so much of how many of us have felt. I know I’m opening myself up for some awful responses to my gender identity, but that’s fine. I just…I wanted you to know how this comic matters to someone like me.

I think is a great comic, but it is also true that the ending with 8 fat characters is not as good as it could had be, because it is too obvious. I guess a better way would have been to combine different bad traits for example 1-2 fat, 1-2 unclean, 1-2 men bald, 1-2 looking too old, and maybe not all of them affected. In any case it is a great job and it is impossible to had 200 perfect comics. Some of them are better than others , and it is a bit shame because this was almost perfect, but the important thing is to learn from mistakes, so comic 193 will be upon the shoulders of the 192 previous.

Gavin, your wonderful piece is unfortunately timely in North Carolina, US, where our legislators held an expensive special session last week to require people to use bathrooms based on their gender as listed on their birth certificates in any government building and in all pre-college schools. Yes, Carla would have to use the men’s room despite the harassment and danger. Fortunately, many citizens, businesses, and organizations are pushing back against this bill. It used the bathroom scare to remove the right to sue over any sort of discrimination too. Thanks for proving a moving story to help people understand the injustice. http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/why-north-carolinas-bathroom-bill-debate-feels-all-too-familiar/Content?oid=5009433

That seems more than a little absurd. Shouldn’t it be based on one’s current anatomy? I mean, just because you were born a man, or are female but identify as a man, doesn’t mean you’re properly equipped to use a urinal.

Sorry that this is variations on a theme here, but it bears repeating: I LOVE your comic/quotes, re-reading(thank you for having them free online!) when I need a boost, but the FAT=BAD PEOPLE or visa versa message at the end really pulls me out of your inclusion message. Plus the logical part of me screams against 28-year-olds ALL looking like 300lb 50 year-olds rode hard and put away wet, in a quote about accepting DIVERSITY.

I still fail to see why trans-gender people want to go trough peni- or vaginoplasti: paying a doctor to mutilate your sexual-organs doesn’t make you more man or a woman, it just makes you less what you already were. Personally I think Mr. Garrison put it best during his gender confucion: “So you’re saying I’m not a woman, just a guy with a mutilated penis” wich the doctor responded: “Basically yes”

Ohh, BTW: when are you gonna make a comic about Comrade Marx or Tito? Ayan Rand got her turn and she was a monster with her views of “the Great” watching over the filthy Untermench!

Then why did you comment at all silly-billy? At least the fat-rights people on their comments have a clear message: “Fat people should’t be classified as lazy or bad just because they wallow in hedonism all day and don’t take care of themselves. They can’t help it that pies taste so delicious and wheel-chairs (or Mobility-scooter” as it’s supposed to be called) make walking ever so hard”

And yes: equal suffering for all is way better than just the workers suffering so that the rich can enjoy luxury.

What are you even talking about? I’m not rich, nor am I fat in fact I exercise an hour and a half a day, and I eat as healthily as poverty allows. I transitioned. I’m piss poor, probably will be for the rest of my life. Doing this took everything I ever had, cost my my friends, my family, my house, my job, my car, my inheritance and was the thing that still saved my life. Yet I still occasionally have to deal with people like you. I’m not “mutilated” you think people should suffer with that and the 45% untreated suicide rate? You truly believe your ideology should decide who lives and who dies?

I do not see how she is throwing a hissy-fit. She is merely pointing out how you are misunderstanding her. Stating that you think she is throwing a hissy-fit shows how over-sensitive you are to criticism.

Dear alternatively-gendered person (or how ever people with gender confusion are supposed to be called):
Maybe you could’ve spent your time and resources better so that your “Transition” (tee-hee, Tran) wouldn’t have left you poor and contactless, such as: volunteering at the homeless shelter, helping disabled people or even feeding the poor. I strongly believe your life would be much more enriched than it currently is.

Also your logic of my ideology causing trans-sexual suicide is facinating to
watch, and yes: if your pee-pee or va-jay-jay has been cut and stiched together for cosmetic purposes, it is by defenition mutilated.

Dana W is not confused about her gender. She is well aware she was born a female in a male’s body. If she were really confused, she would not know which gender she belongs to. Neither is she “alternatively-gendered”; she identifies as a woman.

Secondly, have you ever considered why some transgenders surgically transition in the first place. They do it because a physical transformation is important for them to truly achieve the liberating feeling accompanying the accomplishment of becoming a woman a trans woman wants tone, or the man a trans man wants to be. Sex reassignment surgery is not fit for everyone, including people with gender dysphoria and transgenders who feel uncomfortable with having surgery, but for those who have put much thought into such a great decision and have decided to request for surgery, their lives have positively transformed. Yes, she has been mutilated, so what? Judging from her comments, her surgery does not seem to be a long-term bane for her, but rather a medical procedure that has made her satisfied.

Indeed, volunteering to help the poor in and of itself is irrefutably ethical, but will that counter her poverty? Again, judging from her comments, she seems to have an very enriched life already; she says she exercises and eats healthy, and she seems to have embraced her humble circumstances without disillusionment (though helping the poor could serve as a lovely bonus in this context). How do you know she is not helping the poor. Do you magically observe her for long distances? Have you enriched your life by helping the poor? Do you know what is also life enriching? Learning about different perspectives whilst being open-minded, contrary to the ignorance and stubbornness you manifest. I too, admire South Park for its creative humor and political incorrectness, but Dana W makes an excellent point. I hope you do not borrow philosophy from one cartoon. Go research on other viewpoints from other medium, such as books, articles, or science publications, even and especially viewpoints that challenge your view of the world.

Yes, she has lost contacts that were probably valuable to her, but have you ever considered that this is a great sacrifice not only made by surgically transitioned transgenders, but also by non-surgically transitioned transgenders, gays, bisexuals, asexuals, ex-Muslims, ex-Christians, born again Christians, heretics, and other people? Have you ever been forced to make hard decisions and select the choice that you believe is wise and best for you, and still uphold your decision in spite losing communication with you people you love? If not, then you have no right to judge her for that. In fact, I am going to wish Dana W good luck in creating a new network of people who will actually support her for who she really is.

You are quite ignorant of how your views of transgenders can develop into prejudice, and you will surprised to learn that that prejudice has lead to employment/housing discrimination and high rates of domestic abuse, homelessness, depression, familial excommunication, and suicide among transgenders. Can’t you sympathize with her for her struggles, rather than dismiss her as someone who does not help the poor, simply because she is transgender? Once again, after reading her comments, I do not recognize a victim mentality from Dana W, but rather positive empowerment in response to this beautifully made comic.

Before you accuse me of being an SJW or PC liberal, I would like you to know I am fairly conservative; I support free-market capitalism, gun rights, Israel, tex reductions, military funding, crackdown on illegal immigration, and profiling for security purposes, while opposing safe spaces, BLM, third-wave feminism, and affirmative action. Yet as a Gay man, I am happy that my fellow LGBTQ people have been fighting for the rights we deserve.

I am not be a Christian, but I am going to paraphrase from Jesus Christ: “Before you point out the speck of sand in your brother’s eye, why don’t you deal with the plank in your own eye.” I suggest you think and ask yourself if there is some plank in your eye, or up your colon, prior to judging others that challenge your personal philosophy and opinions. That is what smart people do. I am sure you are smart, so I am sure you can master such a beneficial skill. 🙂

Dana W is not confused about her gender. She is well aware she was born a female in a male’s body. If she were really confused, she would not know which gender she belongs to. Neither is she “alternatively-gendered”; she identifies as a woman.

Secondly, have you ever considered why some transgenders surgically transition in the first place. They do it because a physical transformation is important for them to truly achieve the liberating feeling accompanying the accomplishment of becoming a woman a trans woman wants tone, or the man a trans man wants to be. Sex reassignment surgery is not fit for everyone, including people with gender dysphoria and transgenders who feel uncomfortable with having surgery, but for those who have put much thought into such a great decision and have decided to request for surgery, their lives have positively transformed. Yes, she has been mutilated, so what? Judging from her comments, her surgery does not seem to be a long-term bane for her, but rather a medical procedure that has made her satisfied.

Indeed, volunteering to help the poor in and of itself is irrefutably ethical, but will that counter her poverty? Again, judging from her comments, she seems to have an very enriched life already; she says she exercises and eats healthy, and she seems to have embraced her humble circumstances without disillusionment (though helping the poor could serve as a lovely bonus in this context). How do you know she is not helping the poor. Do you magically observe her for long distances? Have you enriched your life by helping the poor? Do you know what is also life enriching? Learning about different perspectives whilst being open-minded, contrary to the ignorance and stubbornness you manifest. I too, admire South Park for its creative humor and political incorrectness, but Dana W makes an excellent point. I hope you do not borrow philosophy from one cartoon. Go research on other viewpoints from other medium, such as books, articles, or science publications, even and especially viewpoints that challenge your view of the world.

I have to disagree with you. Before sex-rassigmnet surgery, a trans woman is a woman simply because she identifies as one (there might also be some biology and brain structure differences). But after surgery, a trans woman is also a woman because she technically is physically/anatomically female. So she is “more of a woman”. As much as I love South Park, I have to strongly disagree with that particular message; surgically transitioned transwomen are not men without penises; they are simply women. Period.

I agree with many here who highlight how obesity is linked to deterioration and failure. I also dislike the black-and-white retributive sense of justice the comic portrays. For Carla to find herself does not require the ruin of others.

What I noticed about the other “kids” in this one, before reading the comments above, is that they’re not young people at all, really, but people who have put on the same angry, bitter faces they’ll wear all their lives. They’re closed off to the possibility of appreciating difference. They look like their adult selves from the beginning. So I didn’t particularly notice if they seemed ugly or heavy, but it did look as though they hadn’t grown.

Disgusting…
Forcing the nature is not something adorable.
Being LGBT is a mental illness. We should encourage recovery from this, instead of promoting such abomination.
When will we want to stop playing God, and accepting our gender we are born with?

Religious mania convincing people that YOUR religion is the only cure for all the worlds ailments including people who do not believe the same way as you is the real mental illness. When will you stop playing god by believing that you and your church own everyone else’s life?

Judge not least ye be judged is in the bible, so ‘playing God’ is what you are doing, since only God can judge us by your religious beliefs. Though let us not forget what Jesus said about homosexuality, “……..”-nothing. Do the world a favor and follow his example? Or you can just enjoy being a hypocrite Vipera, the word of God comes not from the serpents mouth;)

This is stunning how much HATE this is producing in the feedback. Usually you all trip over yourselves to sing his praises, to tell him how his stories touch your heart and give you warm fuzzies. But, he steps on your taboo subject and you turn on him like rats. From religious bigots who go on about “Gods Plan” for us to be miserable, and alienated, to people who are feeling a little too close to the bigots and jerks in this strip who are consequently shifting the point and the focus of oppression to the BULLIES! Very real and very reflective of what happens now in the real world. Why? Because most of you would be right along with the bullies punishing the “freak” how do I know? I’ve been there. The whole way, And as a kid they torture you, as an adult they ostracize you, and if you are not passable enough to go under the radar afterwards, far too often they KILL you. But nobody cares about the special hell you go through living through this and growing from it, you are far too concerned that the bullies will be seen as fat and unsympathetic.

I’ve seen pictures of people before and after they dress up or after surgery, and wow… One can see them feel at ease with themselves, or “feel” right after the transformation.
I hope for a day that it will be a norm for people to become whatever they feel is right for themselves.

On another note, I saw ZenPencils book 1 and 2 in my local bookstore, and couldn’t resist getting them to support your works. Love and appreciate what you’re doing with your comics, it’s given me some much needed reminder/push in my own life/work. Keep up the great work. Thanks again! <83

I love the message here regarding gender identity. But doesn’t it seem a bit ( and anyone feel free to correct me or clarify for me) body shame-y? All the other characters are horrible to Carla and then later we see that ahh, yes all of these horrible people are fat now, how very fitting. But though we may privately wish it, all the who were horrible to us in school don’t always get fat.

Horrible people are, usually, just horrible people and they come in all shapes and sizes.

So all the former classmates ended up looking like they’re 40-50 at 28? That’s the oldest stereotype: Bad people are old, ugly and probably fat. And then it works vice versa and people start assuming that someone old, fat or ugly must also be a terrible person. Or a woman with a long nose and moles is a witch.

As a woman who became authentic later on in life, this one work makes me tear up every time I read it. This is so much my life! Way back in school, I was deeply stealth. None of my classmates and any inkling about the inner struggle I was working through. It wasn’t until my 40th High School Reunion where my classmates met the real me! I was warmly welcomed and accepted.

When we stop living a lie and become Authentic, we find an inner power & strength we never knew we had. We become invincible even in the face of the bigotry and hatred that so many send our way. Like Carla above, I am unstoppable!

Thank you for this work.

Shauna Marie O’Toole
Director
We Exist Coalition of the Finger Lakes
A 501c3 dedicated to Outreach, Visibility, and Justice for the Transgender Community in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.